re: " Foreign hypocrisy" (BP, PostBag, February 25, 2020)
Dear editor,
In his letter, "Foreign hypocrisy", Thanin Bumrungsap makes good points, and has clearly taken the trouble to check his facts.
Nonetheless, he overlooks the basis for the Thai Constitutional Court's decision. It is not that Thai law puts any limits on loans to political parties, but that the court argued that they are public organizations, like the Ministry of Justice, rather than juristic persons such as the Bangkok Post Group or the Soi Dog Foundation. The relevant Thai laws make no mention of loans, unlike the explicit clarity of the relevant US laws, as Mr. Bumrungsap points out.
The comparison, therefore, fails. There is no hypocrisy in the democratic US calling out the undemocratic nature of the verdict by the Thai court, which all too likely fully comports with Thai law made up to enable such verdicts contrary to justice and democracy. Legal does not mean just; it certainly does not mean democratic.
Felix Qui
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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.
The text as edited was published in PostBag on February 26, 2020, under the title "Undemocratic, unjust" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1865869/lending-half-truths
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